The Romancing Tale
by PeliikGrahSol
Summary: A year has passed since Pein's attack on Konoha. Naruto is sent together with Ino on a mission when everything goes wrong. A tale of Naruto in his attempt to woe the girl that managed to intrude into his heart. AU
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

The day was sunny and warm, as it usually was in Konoha even though it being late fall. The leaves on the trees were just about turning yellow from their usual brilliant and lush summer green. One person, namely Naruto, was leisurely enjoying the weather as he strolled down the main road towards the new Hokage tower. The slight chill carried on the wind only made it more enjoyable as it enhanced the sun's warmth all the more.

A year had passed since Pein had made a crater of the village. The new look that came with newly made houses and buildings had started to feel homely again, fresh wood had just started to turn weather worn, paint crusty and flaky at places. Trash and old bottles lined the alleys, potted plants decorated the foyers here and there. More fancy decorative woodworks had started to appear around windows and the people had started to fall into a sense of normalcy. Store clerks were sweeping their store fronts in preparation for another business day. Children laughing as they skipped their way towards the academy…

Naruto could close his eyes and imagine the old village, it felt like it, it smelled like it, and it sure as hell sounded like it. Yet another proof to him that life had once again returned to Konoha. It might have been utterly destroyed but the new Konoha was no shaping up to be nothing different, proving that it was not the buildings or the sights that made up the village, but its people.

Without any hurry, and fully intent to enjoy the Konoha morning, he climbed the last steps towards the Hokage tower, drifting slowly inside.

The insides of the building was both cooler and warmer that the outside air, as the sun did not directly shine inside nor did the wind blow through it, and what little did make it inside was quickly warmed up by a series of radiators throughout the building.

Turning directly right at the entrance he headed for the spiralling staircase that would take him up to Tsunade-bachan's office. He returned a small wave and a grin towards one of the mission clerks manning the numerous desks handling the distribution of missions, the room was already crowded and most of all the desks were in full swing to send genin and chunin wherever they were needed. The clerk in question had, upon seeing him, waved at him with a shy smile. One of the many small perks he had come to enjoy after the he defeated Pein was how generally nice people had become. It had been a long and hard fought reward that he was thoroughly enjoying.

With a grin still plastered on his face he barged into Tsunade-bachan's office without knocking and threw a hearty greeting, a side of him hoping he was interrupting whatever the old crone might have been doing. He had in certain areas picked up Ero-sennin's old habits, one being to rile up his old teammate into a frothing anger, not that it worked… much.

"Hello, Obachan!" he shouted, the glower he received back made him chuckle under his breath.

As Tsunade made to respond he noticed another person standing in the room, just off to the side.

"Hi, Ino-chan!" He interrupted Tsunade as he closed the last distance between the desk and the door. The blond gave a wry little smile back at him.

"Hello, Naruto."

Tsunade made a disgruntled noise at being ignored.

"You took your time, Brat." Tsunade bit out, feeling her teeth clench a little too hard for her liking. She had long since stopped trying to make him stop calling her _that_ ; the boy was incorrigible. Her words were merely met with another grin from the boy.

She tried her best to ignore the boy's antics; the faster she got this all over with the faster she would get rid of him.

"I am sending you two on a mission to Kakagi," Tsunade began, picking up a mission scroll stamped with a big 'B' to Ino. "There you will find and extract information from a man named Himitsu Sewa. The client is interested in anything that could be used against the man and his business."

Tsunade looked between the two youngsters. Who, to her relief, understood the weight of the mission she was giving them.

"The mission is time sensitive and because of its nature, dangerous. It is unknown if Himitsu has any ninja under his payroll but expect heavy resistance if you are found out… I hope I do not need to tell you a lot of money is resting on this mission, money we desperately need."

Both Ino and Naruto gave a court nod. She was glad Naruto at least had sense enough to understand when to be serious. She eyed the two for a second before she finally asked.

"Any questions?"

Ino raised her hand before she spoke, sending a slightly apologetic look towards Naruto.

"Um, wouldn't it be better if I paired up with someone more, like, Hinata, or Shino?"

Naruto visibly sagged, looking for all the world a bit miffed at the girl's words, but stayed oddly silent. It shook Tsunade how much the loudmouthed boy had grown the past year, she had expected him to shout indignantly at being told he wasn't good enough. It also warmed her heart in odd ways, he looked so much like her little brother, a spot Naruto had involuntarily filled, and probably the reason she let him get away with all his backtalk.

"Because everyone else is unavailable, now get out of my office!" 'So I can drink my booze in peace' however, went unsaid.

* * *

"Sorry about what I said." Ino apologized when they finally came to a stop after spending the last few hours tree hopping for a well-deserved rest. The both of them still had a full days sprint left to cover.

"For what?" Naruto asked while he stretched his legs, absently wondering what she was on about; he couldn't remember anything she had done that warranted an apology? After leaving Tsunade's office they had gone their separate ways to pack their bags, and mere minutes later met up at the gate, and then spent the last three hours running through the thick foliage that made up the mere part of the land of fire. Ino had seemed to know which direction this Kakagi place was at, so he had simply followed her as she made her speedy way through the trees.

Ino's shoulders visibly collapsed at the clueless expression Naruto was sending in her direction. And here she thought it was her fault he had stayed quiet; that he had been mad at her. She even felt indignant, here she had spent the hours to work up the courage to apologize and he had simply forgotten!

"Never mind." She answered kicking at the ground, feeling a bit frustrated at her failed attempt to apologize, and at Naruto being… well, Naruto, she guessed; the boy had a knack for it.

"How far away is this, Kakagi town?" Naruto asked after a few silent moments, keeping is limbs limber and warm by both rolling on the balls of his feet and swinging his arms, and in her eyes brimming with energy, if she wasn't wrong he would be able to keep on running through the entire night if he so wanted too.

"Another day's sprint." She took a note from Naruto and kept moving about the small clearing, wouldn't do to get too cold and have her muscles cramp on her later on. The air wasn't particularly warm as the winter season was starting to creep around the corner. She wouldn't be surprised if the night temperature would start to drop below zero soon. She shivered a bit as a particularly cold wind brushed against her exposed skin, she probably should have packed warmer clothes too…

After another minute or so they were again off running. Thanks to not keeping to any roads but up amongst the branches of the trees, what would take a few days would be cut down to only one.

* * *

Early in the morning the next day, Naruto and Ino arrived at the town of Kakagi, one of the larger trading towns in the land of fire, situated in the middle of an expansive river land next to the largest river outlet. It oversaw most of the trade around the eastern sea and saw merchants and ships from all over the elemental nations, featuring the country's largest harbour.

It was a busy town filled with people though it, though it lacked most common attractions and entertainments Naruto had come to expect from the land of hot water and other towns and cities Jiraya had taken him to… He could not help the small grin the sprung to his lips as he remembered fondly about the old pervert and his antics. He would have avoided places like these like this like the plague; if there were no loose girls around he simply wasn't either.

In no time Ino had led him through the winding streets and checked them in into a small but cheap inn, one room separate beds. It was at that moment when she had casually stated the terms to the innkeeper that he caught himself disappointed. The thought he had unintentionally hoped for the mishap sent cold shivers through his soul. He quietly made a few signs behind the backs of the two women as they were led to their room to ward of harmful spirits. One could never be too careful, especially if the old pervert was around trying to corrupt him from beyond the grave.

Ino threw herself on the closest bed and made the must ungodly cute groan as she sighed into the softness of a proper bed, her backpack thrown haphazardly at the foot of it.

"I am exhausted." She growled eyes shut in a content expression as she spread herself out on the soft covers.

Ino, compared to himself, was completely exhausted after the near nonstop run from all the way from Konoha, they had only stopped for a quick midnight nap for an hour or so to make the last trek of the journey. She did not have the advantage of having a fox in her stomach to enhance her own stamina, what little Naruto knew about anatomy was that his enhanced healing helped offset the effects that was more common amongst his peers, he could never really overexert himself. Sure he felt a bit sore after the run but it was more of a small reminder that, yes, he had been running almost a whole night through. Ino on the other hand was just short of being in pain.

Having three trained medical experts in his life did open his eyes a bit to people around him, and made him realize just how different he was thanks to the tailed-beast inside of him.

What he was, however, was dead tired. Being awake for more than twenty-four hours was stretching his ability to keep his eyes open.

Realizing he was staring at the girl as she laid there sighing exaggerated sighs, made his cheeks heat, especially since his eyes stuck to her shapely behind. Feeling self-conscious and afraid that she would notice his stares he hurriedly made for his own bed closer to the window. Where he emulated his companion and simply threw himself on top the bed. He couldn't help the groan as it slipped through his lips. The bed felt like heaven.

In short order the pair of them fell to sleeps cruel clutches.

* * *

Naruto woke up around midday, or so he guessed as he groggily sat up. Ino was still fast asleep drawing heavy sighs in time with the rise and fall of her back. His eyes again locked to her lower body, this time however her skirt had ridden up her legs leaving only her dark skin tight shorts open to the air, they left little to the imagination which he realized was worse. 'The illusion of nakedness' Jiraya had called it as he tried to explain the allure of it, he hadn't understood it back then but now it was making him extremely uncomfortable. He was eyeing a girl in her sleep and not any girl either but a friend a really good friend too, and it was making him feel like he was betraying her trust.

What was with him today, he thought a few hours' sleep would get his mind away from the gutter but it hadn't.

He rose to leave but as he reached the door he stopped and looked back, and then at the window, and cursed. Not only had he looked at Ino again when he tried not to but any passer-by could also take advantage of her in her oblivious state. He doubled back and took his own bed covers and draped it over her, killing two birds with one stone.

All the reaction he got was her grabbing blindly at it and pulling the quilt closer in around her with a muttered 'thank you'. When Naruto left he wasn't sure if he had woken her up or if she had simply been sleep talking.

The door clicked close and he drew a sigh in relief, he hoped against hope that he wasn't starting to become like Jiraya. The thought gave him shivers.

Free from the presence of Ino his thoughts quickly turned to food, a late breakfast was probably what he was needing to get himself back to himself, and so he set out to find a ramen stand, who knew maybe he could find something new and revolutionary to bring back for Ichiraku to put on the menu!

A sad and defeated Naruto returned to the hotel carrying a bag of roasted sweet potatoes and a piece of bread filled with mincemeat and hot sauce, he had already eaten one and planned to give the other one to Ino if she was still in their room. It just so happened she was. Laying on her stomach on his bed bathing in the afternoon sun. Her eyes opened to look at him as he entered. Her body relaxed as she recognized him and sat up.

"Hello, Naruto." She greeted as she stretched her shoulders, she eyed the bags curiously and let Naruto's own spirited return greeting brush past her, "what you got there?"

"Breakfast!" Naruto grinned and handed the bag over to her after extracting a still warm potato from it.

She curiously eyed the content but couldn't help giving out a disgusted snort. Naruto payed no head to her as he reclined on her bed idly munching on his food. Without wasting much more time she dug up the bread, which she was pleasantly surprised by, at least it wasn't plain old bread and the sweet potato made a good snack afterwards.

"So… what's the plan, Ino-chan?" He asked licking his fingers clean.

Ino popped a piece of the potato into her mouth and chewed slowly to give her time to respond.

"We will go out and find where Himitsu and his company is, then I will body switch with one of the workers and look around for whatever I can find out."

"But, what about me?"

Ino eyed Naruto but couldn't hold a small chuckle from escaping. Naruto had meanwhile made his best attempt at a puppy dog look, which had failed spectacularly as he looked completely ridiculous more than anything.

"Heh, you will, like, watch over my body while I snoop around." She said it like it was the most obvious thing in in the world.

"What am I to do, stand around doing nothing?"

"Pretty much, yep." She put extra emphasis on the 'r', which made Naruto only collapse in on himself.

"Why am I even here for?" he muttered a little annoyed, pouting up a storm.

Ino finished her treat and jumped to her feet.

"Come on, if we hurry we might be back in Konoha before this time tomorrow."

Naruto sighed but followed his teammate out the door.

* * *

"Are you sure you will be okey?" Naruto said for the third time, breaking Ino's concentration and making her lose the jutsu and her opportunity to body switch with the passing guard.

"Yes, Naruto, shut up and let me concentrate you idiot!" Ino hissed at him, finally losing her temper.

Naruto for his part was rent with worry and concern. He could picture everything that could go wrong with this plan to infiltrate the mansion of this Sewa fella, but worst was that he could not do anything, heck he would probably never know if anything went wrong. That was sending doubts through him and spikes of paranoia, he hated the feeling, he was more trying to convince himself that everything was going to go right more than his lack of confidence in her abilities. He knew she could and would take care of herself but sitting on his arse just waiting while his friend was putting herself in danger while he sat in complete safety was not something he was looking forwards too.

He knitted his lips together as best he could for a fourth time and clamped his hands onto his pants. If he wasn't so worried he would have laughed at himself at how nervous he was, heck it wasn't even he who was going to infiltrate the heavily guarded mansion of a very wealthy and totally shady man. Heck even Jiraya appeared like an upstanding citizen compared to the stout little baldy… it was probably why he was so damn nervous too… He wasn't putting himself in danger, he couldn't or else they both knew what would happen, he wasn't the sneakiest person and he knew squat what kind of information they were trying to steal/uncover. No she had to go on her own.

A minute passed before the next guard came up around inside the chest high wall, the fence on top of it would stop any non-ninja from making it up and over it. Ino's hands flashed in a series of hand seals before she thrust her hands forward, her thumbs, index and middle fingers touching tip to tip with the opposite hand. Naruto barely had time to catch her body as it went completely limp, like a puppet that got its strings cut.

The guard, only twitched as he almost missed a step, and he was assured that everything must have worked as it should have as the guard looked and winked at him with a smile before it again set into a bored look it had before.

Feeling the lump in his chest grow even more as he watched her walk away from him made him again feel helpless and worried. It felt like this was the last time he was going to see her again, and that all that would be left would be the empty shell he held right now. Desperate, he shook his head to empty it of the thoughts.

"Good luck," he whispered as he saw her disappear behind the mansion.

He suckered a breath and let it out in a slow quiet sigh, it worked little to calm him down as the lump still persisted. He swallowed another attempt that failed to elevate his worries. He waited another minute and watched as another guard passed by before he finally calmed his heart down enough to trust his own head; the impulse to sneak in after her was strong.

He looked down at Ino's body and felt another boat of nervousness come to the surface. Feeling more than a little shame as his eyes roamed over her. As his hands felt soft flesh give under his palms. Bad thoughts entered his mind as he felt his arms twitch with impulsive commands. Here he held what could only constitute as an unconscious woman in his hands, all up for the taking. Nobody would ever know if he would touch her, to feel what only a few lucky numbers ever would.

Slowly and with shaking hands he looped and arm around her midriff, he pulled her up securely and flush against him. He could feel the pulse of her heart, beating fast, just like his own. His other hand slowly cupper her cheek, revelling in how soft and smooth the skin was to his touch, slowly he lifted her head up and against his shoulder, his eyes roaming her face closer than he had ever done before. Her lips slightly parted, eyes closed and her face relaxed. His eyes stuck at her lips, he licked his own, absently wondering how it would feel to kiss them.

His eyes drifted down following her neckline as it disappeared behind her blouse, following the soft curve of her breasts.

He felt his own breath come to him quick and shaking, his face felt like it was on fire as he licked his dry lips, his eyes slowly returned to her face, her soft innocent face.

What was he doing!? He felt his knees weaken and leaned against the alley wall. What was he doing! He bit his lips hard enough to draw blood as he tore his eyes away. It took his all not to throw the limp body away from him. His whole body broke out in a cold sweat as he felt himself flush in pure shame. This was wrong on so many levels, and worst yet he had done it to a friend, a friend who had trusted him with her own body's protection, and what had he done? Exactly what he would expect of the scum inside the base would do, take advantage of her.

Shame soon boiled into anger, anger at himself that he even so much as entertained the idea. He needed to get away and quick, he needed to let go of the girl in his arms, to distance himself. He felt anger and tears build in his eyes. He had broken the trust one of his own friends had placed her trust in him, he realized he did not even want to trust himself anymore. He knew he wouldn't be able to look her in the face again after this. How was he supposed to?

Feeling disgusted with himself and how damn low he managed to let himself fall he swept the body into his arms, careful to cradle the head securely against him, and quickly jumped away, sprinting over the roofs to the inn.

He passed the innkeeper who hid her giggles poorly behind her hand. Feeling even more shame and heat hit his cheeks he hurriedly entered their room, dumped Ino on her bed and draped the covers over her all the way up to her chin and threw another one over her when the first one proved to be too thin to block her shape from him, and then dumped himself into the far corner behind his own bed. Feeling the tears finally start to fall.

He rubbed at his eyes furiously as he cursed himself. He hoped Ino would just hurry up and be done so he could hurry and get as far away as possible.

* * *

Naruto woke with a start when the door clicked open.

"I-Ino?" he managed to ask as he stretched his neck to look over his bed. What met his eyes was not Ino, no one he recognized at all. The light behind the person shadowed his features beyond recognition. But he was the short sword held in the man's hand.

"Who are you!?" Naruto shouted as he sprung to his feet and his hands threw themselves on instinct into his trademarked hand sign.

The man froze for a second before Naruto's ears picked up a small chuckle before the man launched himself at Naruto.

" _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_!" a huge explosion erupted and the newly created clones launched themselves at the charging swordsman. One quickly went up in smoke, the other two managed to land devastating blows the physically drove the man into the ground. Jumping himself into the fray, Naruto grabbed the man by the collar, spun and threw the larger man out headfirst through the open door, breaking the thin opposite wall with a snap.

Hearing more voices outside he sent the last two clones out to distract them.

Ino was still unconscious on the bed which concerned him, she hadn't moved at all. ' _Something must have happened_!'

He barely heard the pop signalling that the last clone had gone up in smoke, the memories of the clone assaulted his mind, revealing that the hallway was filled with armed men rushing inside.

They had to leave, now! He threw the covers of Ino and threw her over his shoulder, a rasengan already forming in his hand he charged the outer wall. Just as he heard shouts, telling him to stop and surrender, he blew the wall out and jumped through and out into the night.

* * *

Naruto cursed as he ducked behind the ridge of the house he was currently hunkering on top. Another group of weapon wielding thugs ran past his hiding spot, their heavy footfalls drumming against the earthen roads. He couldn't find a good opportunity to slip through. If he moved someone was bound to see him in the sharp moonlight, and if he stayed it would be only a matter of when, not if, he got discovered.

Worse yet was Ino, she was still unconscious and limp as a marionette doll, she weighted him down something fierce. His balance was thrown off thanks to her odd extra weight, it did not help that he never could get a solid grip on her either as he could only awkwardly gather her into his arms.

If he could've he would have screamed in frustration. Why wasn't she back in her own body? This would all be so easy if she was. Gah, he should have gone with her! He pulled at his hair, painfully so. If he had gone with her he would have known what had gone wrong, why she wasn't back yet, not knowing made his situation so much more worse! He couldn't leave, he did not know how that mind body switch jutsu worked, did it only work at certain distances? Could he actually get the hell out of town without risking Ino's life? What if he ran and she never woke up?

As luck would have it, or unluck, the decision was made for him as the roof tiles to his right rattled. Someone had found him.

"End of the line kid, give up and surrender." Naruto looked up in horror at who he was seeing, his mind flashed back to the memory of his first C-ranked mission, the man who stood in front of him stood with such assured arrogance that could only stem from pure unadulterated knowledge and belief in one's own ability. The chill he felt was equal to that when Zabuza had almost cleaved him in half.

In an instant he was on his feet, a half dozen clones sprung into existence and he swept Ino's body up into his arms and did the only sane thing he could think of in his situation, run! He had barely cleared the roof when he felt his last clone exploded into a cloud of smoke. Throwing caution to the wind he raced, putting so much power in his legs that the tiles under his feet cracked under the pressure. In any other situation he would have been amazed at how fast he was actually running. He heard as much as he felt his pursuer being just a step behind him.

He leapt from the roofs and down straight upon one of the patrols of thugs, crushing the man under his and Ino's combined weight and bowled over the rest as he nearly broke a stride. He needed to get out of the town well in the forest he would be able to shake the enemy ninja. He gave another burst of speed and he hoped against hope that he left any pursuer in the dust.

He had not. The streets broke and gave way for the pier and then streaming river water. Chancing a glance over his shoulder made him curse in dismay. Another ninja had joined the chase and were hot on his heels as they raced over the river.

Water gave way to heavy forest foliage.

* * *

Naruto was completely lost, but did he care? No, not at all. His plan to shake the two ninja had failed, not only had they kept pace with him but actually several times tried to cut him off. It was nothing but a miracle that he was still standing. His legs burned, his arms burned, his back burned, his lungs burned; he was near complete exhaustion. He did not run anymore to flee, no, it was not about if he would be caught now, it was a matter of when, a when he felt was not that much far off. His two pursuers must have realized it too as their attempts to stop him became less fierce and more symbolic than anything else.

He dodged another thrown weapon and clipped his shoulder on a passing tree with enough force to wrench his feet of the ground. He felt Ino's body fly from his grip, and landed with a wet splash on hard coerce sand. He involuntarily breathed in water through his nose sending him hacking and coughing.

He received a kick to his stomach from out of nowhere, making him give an odd chortling scream.

"Damn you are persistent." Came the voice he recognized from the ninja that first found him in town.

"Hahahaha, but man, look at the cutie, no wonder he was desperate!" Naruto heard the other ninja say as the much larger man's heavy footsteps splashed through the shallow water and passed him. Weakly Naruto looked up, his vision blurred and irritated as muddy sand had managed to get into his eyes. He cloud barely make out the man lifting Ino's head by her hair and leer at her.

"G-get your hands off her!" Naruto hacked and rose to his feet, his face betraying just how much the simple act hurt.

The two ninja shared a curious look between each other before both put on cruel smiles.

"Or else what?" the leaner of the two spat, "You gonna beat us up?"

The two burst out laughing, at that ridiculous prospect, Naruto could barely stand and both of them knew it.

"The pretty face here, and our boss are going to have a little, intimate, talk with each other, and there's little you can do about it, kid."

Being on his wits end, he did the only thing he could do, he accessed the Kyuubi's chakra. Feeling the chakra cloak envelop him in its painful embrace he leapt at Ino. Water and sand exploded behind him as he in a blur launched himself forward. With a anger filled roar he crushed the arm that held the girl, grabbed the cuff of her blouse and dove into the cold rapids of the river.

* * *

 **A/N:** Yet another project posted by me! Though compared to the rest this one has a purpose. I have always fashioned myself as a helpless romantic, and since I have zero experience in writing sappy stuff I now endeavour to expand my skills with this fic. It will be a learning experience from me as I will focus a lot more on the actual relationship than an overarching storyline filled with adventure.

I have decided to remove everything that happened after Pein's attack on Konoha, no Tobi, no Madara, No Obito… at least pertaining to the fourth shinobi world war. I did this because of how the characters are at the time before it, and I do not feel inclined to include the whole debacle as it would be more of a pain in the ass and detract from the tale I want to tell.

I hope you enjoyed, and please send me a PM or if you want to help the story gain fame, a review, explaining what you thought was good or bad, what I need to do better and if I did anything glaringly wrong. As I said this is meant to teach me more than anything to better help me later in my other fics.

Cya next time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

With a gasp Naruto resurfaced several hundred metres down river with Ino clutched to him, desperately fighting the current that threatened to pull both him and Ino down under. It was hard kicking the water when the girl's legs constantly got in the way. The cold water penetrated his clothes and bit deep, numbing his skin and shocked his body sending him into barely controlled shakes as his body desperately tried to kick some warmth into him. It both helped him keep moving but it also locked his limbs and muscles and drove what little buoyancy he had away. It was only thanks to his chakra that his kicks even did anything.

He kicked, pushed, and pulled at the water he applied chakra to his hands and feet and used whatever fluid hold he could grasp and step on to guide both of them towards the murky riverbank. It was a slow unrewarding task but even though he several times considered to simply give up, but he held on, inch for inch until his fingers grasped hard and unyielding roots.

He was too tired to even feel gratified that he finally made it, and only rewarded himself with a few deep and shaking breaths before he pulled himself up and out of the water, but fell back when he was a bare part way out, his and Ino's clothed weighted them both down far too much for him to pull them both out.

He glanced down at his charge, sometime in the chase the band of her pony tail had loosened and let her long hair loose hanging in clumps over her face and splayed out on the water surface as the moving water tugged at the strands. Her face serene, pale and rosy as her body no doubt tried to warm her cooling body. They needed to get out of the water quick!

Gritting his teeth he braced his feet against the muddy bank, reaffirmed his left hand's grip on the thick grassy tufts edging the bank, and then with a snarl hefted Ino's unconscious form, up and over, her lower body was still submerged at the hip. Panting for a few precious seconds Naruto crawled up and out of the river, up into what felt like even colder air. His body shivered at the uncomfortable feeling, his clothes heavy and clinging even more uncomfortably to his body.

With shaking hands he pulled Ino up the rest of the way, and shivered even more as he lifted an even colder Ino into his arms. His heartbeat skipped a beat as he came to realize if he did not get her warm, and soon, she would probably not survive. But he needed to run, to get away first. Starting a fire now and so near those ninja would only reveal where he was, like a shining beacon.

So with legs still numb he started to move deeper into the forest. He would be damned if he had made it this far only to sabotage it completely by giving himself, and Ino to the enemy. His stumbling steps got faster and faster until he was again running; the moonlight guiding him.

* * *

His legs finally gave out from under him and forced him to set his cargo down harder than he would have liked.

Without paus to gather his breath he cupped her face in his hands, feeling her skin cold, her lips slightly blue.

"I-Ino, you a-alright? Hey, Ino!" he shook her shoulders, her arms bare and icy cold. He got no response, "Oy, come on wake up!"

Again no response.

"Damn it!" he beat the ground hard enough to hurt his fists.

Fire, fire, he needed heat, _she_ , needed heat. Still finding strength to move, he stumbled of and gathered anything he thought would burn, moss, sticks, leaves, and branches in a pile. He fumbled slightly with the lighter, he was useless with a tinder-box, but within minutes he had a fire going, small, but fire none the less, he knew it would build up.

He moved Ino as close as he dared to the fire, his whole body burning with exhaustion. What more could he do? He would be damned if he screwed up, no, he couldn't, his teammate relied upon him, knowing it or not. He could only hope she had managed to get back in there. Feeling desperate he started to try and rub some warmth into her.

"Come on, get warm." He urged as he furiously rubbed her arms before throwing a few more sticks on the budding fire.

A cold wind blew through his still soaking wet jacket, sending yet again a cold shiver through him, reminding him of how wet he actually was, damn that river had been cold… wait…

Realization struck him like a sledgehammer as he cursed; he quickly threw off his jacket, followed quickly by his pants. Standing in nothing but his underwear and a damp but quickly drying t-shirt he again shifted his focus back on Ino. She was even colder than him, at least his running and moving about had let him keep warm, but the limp form of Ino had no such boons. Her clothed, wet and icy cold, even colder than her, he needed to get them off, and quick.

His hands, shot up to her neck to quickly undo her blouse, on the second button he froze, realizing that he was, in fact, for all intents and purposes going to strip an unconscious girl naked. His mind was gripped with a sudden doubt, what would she say when she woke up? What if she woke up while he was in the act? Doubtful questions that lasted for all of two seconds; his doubts cleared when he mistakenly brushed his fingers against her cold skin.

His hands shaking now, not only from his exhaustion and cold, but also gut wrenching nervousness, he struggled to undo the rest of the buttons. All the while despite the situation, despite the reason, a part of him felt like he was doing wrong, something forbidden, like he for some reason was taking advantage of the situation. He tried to ignore the soft give her chest, he tried to not imagine what would be revealed behind the cloth. With even more hesitation he slowly parted the blouse, his eyes deathly locked on his own hands. His mind was however drawn to the cloth beneath, and he was part relieved and disappointed to see a breast bind.

Shaking his head, heart pounding hard enough to drown out the ambient sounds, he began the most awkward task he had ever done, namely removing the blouse. Her limbs limp and unresponsive made the task near impossible for him to do.

He ended up sitting her up, her arms locked at the wrists above her head in one of his, and then removing the blouse by simply sliding it up above her head, simple the idea was, but not in practice.

After discarding the wet cloth and lowering her down on her back again. Impulsively returning to rub her arms, still too cold for his liking, and throwing more wood and leaves onto the fire, which he happily noted had started to look healthy. Ino's lips was still tinged with too much blue and he quickly returned to the awkward task of removing her clothes.

The skirt was easy enough as it was split down the middle and only had one button, saving him a lot of time.

Trying not to look at anything he shouldn't he was left with her mesh armoured combat shorts. Had he removed enough? Had he already done enough? He wrecked his mind trying to think, ugly 'what if' scenarios popped into his mind, what if it wasn't, what if he left those thick autumn clothes on and she did not warm up enough? What if, what if what if!

"Gah!" he shouted and fisted his hair, before he quickly came upon himself and clamped his mouth shut, covering it with his hands, just because he thought he was currently safe did not mean he was safe, and yelling was only going to lower that chance.

He had no choice, he hoped, and prayed that no one would come to know of this if he fucked up. Heck he hoped that Ino would forgive him and not hate him for this!

His hands shaking, worse than ever before, he reached for her hips, his fingertips hovering just above touch. He closed his eyes and breathed in, taking a meditative second to calm himself, trying again to tell himself he was not doing anything wrong, just what he needed to do, nothing more. It did not work. His breath physically shook as he breathed out.

His fingers slipped inside the waistline, doing his best to not ignore the touch and latched onto the cold he felt at the contact to reaffirm why he was doing this. He quickly pulled feeling the tight cloth stick to her skin as he peeled it off, the sound thick and wet. He physically turned away from what he knew his eyes would meet. He opened his eyes to undo her sandals to lastly pull the pants off.

Giving the cloth a quick twist at least secured his mind that, yes, he did do the right thing as a thick trickle of water was wrenched out. Not wanting to have contact with the cold clothes anymore, and wash his hands off the whole thing he threw it together with the rest of their clothes.

He slowly turned around to look down at her, he had dreamed of this kind of sight many times in his mind, though it had been another girl, and she had been conscious, inviting… He furiously shook his head, reprimanding himself for forgetting who this was. She wasn't a figment of his imagination and he wasn't going to enjoy the sight of her figure, not her softly curving hips, not her lean muscled legs, her well-toned stomach, not the slight hinting line of the bottom of her ribs, not the round and knowingly soft and firm mounds extending from her chest, nor how her neck lovingly framed her shoulders, nor her soft round face, thick and wet hair amorously framing her face, her small nose, or her full lips, slightly parted, inviting for a kiss…

"Damn it!" he shouted as he caught himself too late from ogling his friend, again! This wasn't the time damn it! Not ever was it the time, what he was doing was plain wrong!

Quickly he kneeled down beside her again, throwing even more fuel on the fire, trying his best to ignore the fact she was almost butt-naked in front of him. Trying to focus his mind to get her warm and quickly too. The fire had started to do its work, slowly and only on the side the fire actually was and barely so. She was still far too cold, and started again to rub her from head to toe, guiding his frustrations and anger at himself to give her extra bit of warmth. He wished he had their backpacks with him, then he could have stuffed her inside her bedroll solving a lot of his current problems.

Another breeze made it through the trees reminding Naruto on just how cold it was in the air, he would not have been surprised if his breath would start to mist at any time now. They needed something to cover themselves with, something warm, something more than just a fire, at least she needed it.

Maybe she had something in her waist pouch that he could use. He hurried over to their clothes and hurriedly, expelling the image of much of a creep he must have looked like as he rummaged through her clothes, he extracted her skirt from the pile and emptied the bag that was attached on the ground. A few select weapons and a spool of wire fell out and was dismissed immediately, a few small boxes which he recognized quickly as makeup articles, and then, to his relief, something he hoped was what he thought it was. And it was!

He snatched the first aid sealing scroll up before it even had the time to touch the ground, and broke the plastic seal, praising the fore thinking of whoever prepared these, and unfurled the scroll. In the span of less than ten seconds he found the labelled fire blanket and unsealed it. Feeling elated at the cloth, thin, coerce, but airtight! Only five seconds more elapsed before Ino had her modesty returned. Naruto stood over her, grinning victoriously that for once something went his way! He continued for a while longer to rub her warm, this time more confidently now that she was covered up, and threw more fuel on the fire after he gathered some more. It was large and warm enough now to warrant moving Ino away from it to prevent her from getting burned. He happily noted at least the colour of her lips had returned to their normal pigment, she was still too cool for him to feel comfortable but at least things were improving.

The night wore on and grew steadily more frigid. Not even the fire was enough to completely protect him anymore as even the slightest wind swept all his warmth away. He glanced enviously at Ino, who laid quietly at his side, small puffs of misted breath, and the slight movement of her chest told him she was alive. He too wanted the comfort, the little there was, of the blanket. But he couldn't take it for himself, heck even the idea of sharing wasn't really possible, it barely was big enough to cover her up to her shoulders and he couldn't take the one thing that was helping her keep warm.

Another wind blew through their little camp, which chilled him all the way to the bones. He again enviously looked down at her… maybe?

No, bad thoughts, bad thoughts. He had already done enough to jeopardize his relationship with her, a life times worth, and he wouldn't degrade himself anymore, he had taken enough advantages and he could not do anything more, absolutely not without her consent, he more than owed her that at this point.

He jumped to his feet, ignoring his body's complaints as he paced back and forth around the fire, getting his heart pumping would surely stave off the cold long enough he was sure of it.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Naruto muttered to himself. Less than half an hour had passed and he was feeling colder by the minute. He picked Ino up and sat himself down against the nearest tree, planting his back firmly against it, he awkwardly manoeuvred her to sit between his legs, folding hers under herself in what he hoped was comfortable enough before he draped the blanket over them both, covering her completely and snuggly all the way up under her chin, leaving much to be desired for his own part, but beggars can't be choosers. The blanket covered him well enough even though he had to curve his own legs a bit uncomfortable and forgo his own shoulders; at least he had a shirt on.

Ino's hair was still damp enough to be felt through his shirt, and her body felt cool against his. Not knowing what to do with his arms, and not wanting to leave them out in the open, he hugged her stomach, pulling her close to him, her head guided to lay back against his shoulder. He could not help a sigh escaping his lips. This, this felt nice; already he felt warmer, not to mention the very unfamiliar contact, everywhere Ino was in contact with him felt warm, comfortable. Even though the cold bit at his cheeks and exposed neck and shoulders, he felt content, comfortable, and warm. He tightened the hug a bit more; he could not stop the pleasant feeling that welled up inside him at the feeling of her against him, her soft but firm stomach, the feeling of the rise and fall of her chest.

Yeah, pleasant was the word he would use.

Finally he felt himself relax and all his exhaustion came crashing down upon him. Within a moment he fell asleep…

* * *

Ino woke with a groan, her face scrunched up at the splitting headache she felt pounding at the back of her head. She shifted her body to the other side, to try and find another more comforting position inside her bed. Something felt… off, as she laid there trying to ignore the pain, but she would be damned if she was going to properly wake up feeling like this. No, whatever she had to do today could wait another few hours, the cold chill in the air only helped to reinforce her mind; it was going to simply be a pain to wake up since she had to leave the small cocoon of warmth.

A few minutes passed. The feeling of something being wrong only grew within her. She was sitting, leaning against something soft, firm and somewhat ungiving, but soft. Why was she sitting on bare ground? Why was she sitting at all? She shifted a little, the blanket she had over her chaffed against her bare skin… wasn't she on a mission… why was she undressed… she never undressed, not _that_ much for sure.

Sleep now forgotten, Ino opened her eyes, wincing as the sharp lights cut into her eyes, and took in the sight in front of her. Why was she outside? Last she remembered she should have been inside… inside a bedroom from that small inn she had checked in together with Naruto. Where was Naruto? She tried to look around the area, finding it hard to focus, her sight blurring at the slightest movement. She noticed the ashes of a fire, not even embers were left, but no Naruto insight…

Why were they outside, again? She knitted her brows trying to recall the last thing she could remember.

She, and Naruto had been on a mission, no, still was. She could remember them leaving the hotel, them looking around for their target… then, then she had body switched with one of the guards, remembering walking down the halls of Himitsu's mansion. She had managed to get into what she thought was an office, she had been looking through files, good ones, the kind she had been looking for, then… she had not heard anything but a ruffle of clothes followed by pain and then… nothing…

She must have been discovered, whatever she had been hit by had done a number on her head and explained the pain she felt at the back of her skull, but why was she outside in the woods… alone. Naruto wouldn't just leave her alone like this, would he? Something must have happened that forced him to flee the town after she got knocked out.

The feeling that something that did not add up, that felt unusual, it was a gut feeling she had that she couldn't shake off.

She scanned the camp again, wincing as spikes of pain and dizziness rent through her head. It was then she noticed the pile of clothes… her clothes. Instantly she became rigid. Why was her clothes piled together with Naruto's!? Her breath hitched as her gut feeling wasn't _in_ but _on_ her gut.

No, no that wasn't possible; she would never… Then like a sucker punch to her gut she realize, _she_ hadn't.

Suddenly hyper aware as adrenaline spiked through her systems she felt her backrest rise and then fall, a small sigh of hot air brushed against her ear. She felt warm bare legs flank her. Two strong arms hugged her waist, and locked her flush against a firm chest. Naruto was embracing her back… why was he?

Her heart beat hard, and faster than she had ever remembered it doing. Her breath came out short and more than a little shaken. Why was she naked!? Why was she naked and sharing bed with him!? Why, how?

Then she froze as her panicked mind finally realized, and came to accept just what he must have done. He had stripped her naked, he had stripped her naked and done who knows what else. She did not care what pathetic excuse he would come up with, he had violated her trust, her modesty, and her privacy.

Practically boiling, she removed Naruto's arms from her, struggling to keep her grip from painfully dig into the boy and wake him up. She stood up, wrapping the blanket around her to shield her from the morning air and the bastard as she quickly stepped over to her clothes, ignoring the nauseating dizziness and pain that came with her movement, her clothes was raw and even damp at places thanks to being left out in the open and cold air, whatever moisture that had been in the air had sunk deeply into the clothes during the night.

She dressed herself, taking her seething anger out on the garments as she tugged them on hard, and with far more roughness than she intended.

She threw the blanket away with enough force to make it thud loudly against a nearby tree.

She breathed slowly through her nose in an attempt to calm herself down, it worked, partially. Calm enough she turned and glared at Naruto, who was still sound asleep, half-naked and far too peaceful for her liking.

With a firm kick to his shin she shouted.

"Get up!"

Naruto yelped as he sprung awake, his head whirled around until he managed to lock onto her. His expression turned from confusion to relief, and from relief into excitement. He leapt to his feet with a shout:

"I-Ino-chan!" and made to hug her but was brought to a halt as he saw the glare she levied against him.

"Get, dressed. We are leaving." She hissed through her teeth and did not so much as wait for him as she leapt into the trees.

Naruto remained frozen on the spot. It had happened, what he had feared would happen… happened. He had hoped for anger, he had hoped for a beating, shouting. He had hoped for anything that he knew how to handle. But those eyes, he remembered how warm and friendly they usually was… but, what Ino had directed at him was something new, and it scared him.

He was not going to lose a friend, no, not ever. Not like this ever!

His pants was barely on as he leapt after Ino. He swore to the gods, he was going to make up for this…

* * *

"Ino, hey Ino!" Naruto called as he finally caught up. "Stop, let me explain!"

Naruto almost rammed into her as she came to a full stop on the branch ahead. For a moment he balanced on his toes, only the tree climbing technique kept him from tipping over. He heaved two breathes, hands on his knees, before he looked up at her, and was startled at what he saw. She wore a scowl on her face as she glared down at him, eyebrows knitted, mouth twisted downwards, but what really caught him was the sheen around her eyes. She had been crying. His words were caught short in his throat.

Ino noticed Naruto's hesitancy.

"What?" she snarled. She wanted to get back home, home so she could finally be alone, not hear his excuses.

Naruto flinched and his tongue tied itself even harder as his perfect explanation unravelled before he even had the chance to speak.

"I-I am sorry, okay." he cowered, as soon has his words left his mouth he knew they were the wrong ones.

"Sorry, do you think saying sorry is enough!?" Ino bristled, her voice near a shout, and closed the small distance between them on the branch. Naruto reflexively took a step back when he flinched from Ino's raised hand, expecting to get hit. But it never came. He chanced a look and was met with Ino barely a metre away, her face tightened in an angry scowl; eyebrows knit, nose wrinkled a flared, and her mouth drawn into a teeth bearing scowl. Her fist raised, knuckles whitened, and drawn to strike. Her breath barely controlled. But what made his stomach sink were her eyes and the tears that were welling up in them.

"As I thought." She sighed. She turned and leapt away, leaving him where he stood.


End file.
